Who binned our wheelie bins!

As avid recyclers my household has been anticipating the convenience of new suburban recycling scheme. It commences tomorrow, Monday 16 May 2011.

Anticipating the convenience of wheelie bins captured our attention last year. Been keeping an eye on progress of this project all that time. Noted the rollout delays, and kept-up with Council’s extended ‘warm-up’ campaign.

But we didn’t anticpate this …

We were bemused to have plastic bags delivered to our address last week. Then annoyed to learn that, for some reason, which cannot yet be explained (Helpline has told us to wait a month for a response!) many residential addresses on the Thorndon flat have been deemed as unsuitable for wheelie bins. Yet most (all?) of these residential properties have readily accessible curbsides and ample space for bins. In fact private bin collecting has been going on in these streets for years.

Apparently some kind of WCC ‘visual assessment’ took account of all manner of things, like flights of steps, steep streets, etc. None of which apply to many of the residential properties on the Thorndon flat, within residential Thorndon (note: Thorndon CBD properties are excluded from scheme).

Is this another example of the City’s inability to effectively connect with it’s residents? Not only on operational initiatives like this project. Thorndon has been under scrutiny of the urban planners for three or more years now. We’re underwhelmed by progress toward improved ‘public engagement’. The TRA’s blog is littered with contributions which illustrate some of the Council’s communication short-comings. Particularly with respect to our territorial authority’s apparent inability to more openly engage with residents adequately; well illustrated by the underwhelming approach to the prolonged heritage conversation.